Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, April 26, 2007

Jason Spezza scored 90 seconds into the game, and the Senators jumped to a 4-0 first-period lead before holding on for a 5-4 victory Thursday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

"We made it harder than it should have been," Senators goaltender Ray Emery said after making 26 saves to help Ottawa win its fourth consecutive playoff game. "You know that team will rebound and they will not go down without a fight."

The Devils certainly put a scare into Ottawa, drawing within 4-3 early in the second period. A shot off the goal post by Scott Gomez nearly tied the game later in the second.

"We weren't as sharp after we got the lead," said Senators defenseman Wade Redden, whose third-period power-play goal gave the Senators a two-goal cushion until the closing minute. "I guess it's human nature to sit back a bit."

"It's tough to spot a team like that a four-goal lead," Devils centerJohn Madden said. "The chances are slim you are going to win the game. But we battled back and almost pulled it off."

New Jersey played without captain Patrik Elias, who was sidelined with the effects of a lingering cold.

SHARKS STRIKE QUICKLY: Matt Carle and Mike Grier scored 24 seconds apart midway through the first period and Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 2-0 victory over the Red Wings in Detroit in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Nabokov's shutout was his first this postseason and the fifth of his career in the playoffs. He was tied for second in the NHL with seven during the regular season.

Dominik Hasek had to make just 17 saves because the Sharks played very conservatively after taking the two-goal lead.

Entering the series, home ice was regarded as perhaps the only advantage the top-seeded Red Wings had against the fifth-seeded Sharks.

San Jose quickly took that edge away.

Carle's goal at 9:45 of the first period was set up by a fantastic series of passes around the perimeter, ending with Joe Thornton's cross-crease pass from the corner.

The Red Wings put San Jose's powerful power play on the ice for its first goal and lost the puck in their zone to set up the second score.

Grier was in the right place when the puck trickled into the slot and he wheeled around and beat Hasek with a slap shot.

It was a much different start for Detroit after taking 2-0 leads midway through the first period in each of its first two games in the first round against Calgary. The Red Wings won the series in Game 6 after winning all three games at home.

The Sharks seemed right at home in Detroit, perhaps because they won a league-high and franchise-record 26 games on the road this season and twice more in Nashville, including the series-winning victory in Game 5 last week.

ICE CHIPS: The Rangers' Michal Rozsival missed practice Thursday with a leg injury, potentially leaving New York without its top offensive defenseman tonight against Buffalo. ... Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney had surgery Thursday on his left wrist. Whitney, 24, is expected to be ready for the start of training camp in September. ... The Bruins signed netminder Hannu Toivonen to a one-year contract extension. Toivonen appeared in 18 games for Boston this season, his fourth in the organization, going 3-9-1 with a goals-against average of 4.23.